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When the air was cooler and the windows were open, Holly Johnson noticed nothing unusual about her new basement apartment near the Kmart in Urbandale.

Then the temperature spiked, and she closed the windows to turn on the air.

The real trouble began last month with congestion in her chest, as if she had a bad cold, she said. Then came the sinus problems, the constant drainage in the back of her throat and the migraines in the middle of the night.

Not long after, she was throwing up at her job at a local mattress store, she said.

Last week, Johnson peeled back the faux-wood vinyl flooring in the living room to show me what she became convinced was the source of the problem: The cement floor below appeared moist and was covered with mold.

“This is ridiculous,” she said, after stepping outside so we both could breathe freely. “Thank God I have renter’s insurance, good credit and friends to help me deal with this. But what about my neighbors?”

Johnson filed a complaint with the city, and a subsequent investigation resulted in a warning to fix the problem to B&H Management, which manages Westpointe Apartments and Townhomes.

But she has visited others in the complex and says the mold is more widespread. She showed me pictures. In one, someone had hidden air fresheners in the vents to hide the musty smell.

Her question to the Des Moines Register Reader’s Watchdog: Shouldn’t renters be protected from such a serious health hazard?

“Why are they not evacuating people?” she asked, clearly upset. “This stuff should be treated as a biohazard.”

Health professionals sometimes downplay the more serious side effects. But when exposure is constant and victims have other health problems, the threat can be very real.

In 2010, I interviewed a man named Denny Newton whose doctors confirmed he nearly died from widespread mold inside an aged mobile home he purchased on Des Moines’ south side.

Older weatherproofing and siding had trapped moisture coming from beneath the home, causing mold to grow.

Newton, who already was disabled because of a tree-trimming accident, wound up in the emergency room four times in two years. Each time, he came in struggling to breathe, his eyes swollen, his body covered with a rash.

He was told by doctors not to return to the home.

“If someone were to ask me in court, ‘Was it caused by mold?’ I would say, ‘Yes,’ ” Dr. Angie Wheatro told me on a visit to the hospital with Newton.

Johnson, who is almost completely deaf, said she feared the mold inside the apartment she moved into in June was exacerbating existing sinus problems. Her renter’s insurance ultimately helped cover a stay last week at a local hotel, but she had to move herself to a new apartment — wearing a safety mask over her face.

Particularly irksome to her was the fact she had to pay the city of Urbandale $50 to come out to the complex and investigate her complaint. (The money was refunded because the complaint was “substantiated.”)

Dave Grimm, a certified mold inspector who has tested more than 1,000 homes for A Mold Detective, was irked at B&H Management, too. He said tests taken earlier this summer at another apartment in the complex revealed significant mold.

“I’ve seen worse, but this is a long way from good,” he said of Johnson’s place.

As it turned out, however, results obtained Friday of the air in Johnson’s apartment ultimately revealed no actively toxic mold. Grimm was surprised, given how widespread it appeared.

The mold detective’s theory was that it had gone dormant because of dry weather lately. “If it absorbs more moisture, it will reactivate,” he said. “Wherever the moisture is coming from, it needs to be stopped or the mold will come back.”

About half the population has some allergy to mold. Even so, Iowa Department of Public Health officials tell me there is no state law aimed at protecting tenants from exposure. Most, if any, protection for tenants comes from local ordinances in the few cities that have them.

According to Iowa Legal Aid, the state’s Landlord Tenant Act does provide for tenants to make repairs themselves and deduct them from rent if the problem violates the rental agreement or Iowa law. Tenants can also end a lease and move out, or ask a judge to order the landlord to make repairs.

But first, the tenant needs to notify the landlord in writing and give the landlord a chance to fix the problem. If the landlord fails to act, tenants can spend no more than one month’s rent fixing the problem. Legal Aid says to keep receipts.

Tenants can end a lease in writing if they notify the landlord repairs are needed and the landlord fails to make them. But if a tenant decides to stay, she is still required to pay the rent.

And to be clear: It is illegal for a landlord to retaliate against a tenant who has complained to a housing inspector, unless the tenant is behind on rent and the landlord is evicting for nonpayment.

But Roger Schemmel, an associate building official with the city of Urbandale, said that the complex has 30 days to repair the moisture problem in Johnson’s former place and that managers indicated they would.

Schemmel said the city had received at least one other complaint about mold in another unit within the past 30 days. Landlords in Urbandale can face fines of $500 to $700 for failing to fix the hazard, but usually property managers comply once notice of a founded complaint is given, he said.